Rain halts Cards game against Nationals

Credit: AP

Richard Grossman, left, and his wife, Helaine, try to stay dry as rain falls in the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins in Jupiter, Fla.

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(KMOV) -- Rain was in the forecast. And the forecast proved to be correct. Rain halted today's game against the Nationals after 4 innings with the Redbirds down 1-0.

Some thoughts on the innings that officially did not happen:

-- Jake Westbrook was terrific in his 3 innings. He had 5 ground ball outs in the first couple innings and that is a good sign for him. When he's getting grounders it's a reflection of the sinker being down in the zone and having the desired effect. That's exactly what happened here today.

-- The 3rd inning is where Westbrook got into a little bit of trouble and a lot of it was simply bad luck. The first two guys reached on, you guessed it, ground balls. But after the game he said he's going to live and die by the ground ball. Sometimes they'll get lucky and find a hole but most of the time he believes in his defense to make the play. One run in 3 innings is a pretty good pace to keep though. That'd be a big asset for the Cards to get the 2010 version of Jake Westbrook...specifically the guy in the second half after his trade to St. Louis.

-- On one of the ground balls in the first couple innings Daniel Descalso made a very smooth play going to his right. After the play it really seemed as if Descalso made it look easy. But watching Skip Schumaker and Tyler Greene for the last couple years it was definitely not that easy. Schumaker would have probably had a difficult time being that smooth with it. And Greene easily could have botched it despite his outstanding athleticism. Descalso probably won't be the regular second baseman this year because he doesn't have as high of a ceiling as Greene...but Descalso is the best pure defender there in my opinion. Will make all the plays that need to be made and even a few that shouldn't.

-- Chris Carpenter is still out with an injury that the club originally feared could have been nerve related but now says is not. It's too early to say when he'll make his first start of spring or if it could create a question as to his readiness for Opening Day. But GM John Mozeliak does say they need to implement a Plan B in getting someone ready to take Carpenter's starts if he's out. The only problem? The team is yet to say who that Plan B is. It could be Kyle McClellan. It could be Lance Lynn. It could be someone else. We'll find out tomorrow who that is.